Anchoring or tethering aquarium stand to wall?

IndianaSam

IndianaSam

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Mar 13, 2004
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Pittsburgh, PA
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I love my aquarium, but I now have a beautiful 7 month old girl in my house who is doing a great job of crawling and is starting to stand.

So I'm terrified that one day she's going to crawl over to my aquarium and try to hold onto it while standing.

It's only a 29 gallon tank and the stand is very sturdy, still the thought scares me.

So my question is this, does anyone have any suggestions for how to attach the stand to the wall? I'd prefer not to drill the stand. So I was thinking of a nylon or other synthetic material that wraps around the stand and attaches to the wall at two points.

Does anyone have any suggestions or practical experience? My only other alternative is to tear down the aquarium until my wife and I move into our house (we just moved and we're in an apt) and I can find a location that she won't be near.

Thanks in advance.
 
It would take a lot to knock down an aquarium. Its is a lot heavier than it looks. I don't think that a baby could knock it down.

If you have an iron stand, you might put something infront of it so your baby can't climb on the stand.
 
You do not state whether your stand is wood or metal but I a suggestion.
If it is an wrought iron stand.
Screw two screws with eyelets (screw with an open circles) into the the studs behind the aquarium and then use wire or a nylon rope to attach the screws to the frame. I would attach the screws in the studs even with the base of the stand to make it more structurally secure.
If it is a wooden stand.
Do the same as above but also attach two eyelet screws to the stand and use those to attach the screws in the studs in the wall.
----O---------WALL--------------O-------------
| |
___O_________________________O________
| |
| aquarium from above |
|___________________________ __________|

Sorry about the picture but I think it gives the right idea.
I agree that my 29 gallon is very heavy and sturdy but it is best to not underestimate what a toddler can do. Better safe than sorry. :p
 
if you ABSOLUTELY don't want to drill, i would suggest a pair of heavy nylon straps with grommets (steel rings) in both ends,
wrap the straps around the legs so that both grommets are against the wall, and screw through these into the wall, using washers to ensure the screw head doesn't pull through the grommet.

but your best bet would still be to attach something directly to the stand
 
I would be vary concerned with with the tank falling over, I myself do not have kids, but have heard of this and other things being pulled over and realy hurting them...so ANYTHING you can do to keep this from happening i would do.

I live in So.CA so most of my heavy, large items are all mounted in some way or another


Fupa
 
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Just a thought...you mentioned this was going to be a temperory fix while you wait to move into your house, right? If you have some boxes or other large objects that are heavy, you could place them in front of the stand to act as blockers. They should keep your princess from pulling on the aquarium/stand as she attempts to pull herself up. My children are eight and six but I can remember doing similar things in my home when they were the same age.

Kudos to you for thinking safe and being proactive. Good luck.
 
When I had my 55 set up the first time, we noticed how topheavy the tank was on the wooden stand, and my DH got 3 concrete blocks and put in the base to help stabilize it. Just an addidional suggestion. I do like the idea of tethering to wall.
I don't have small children around, but I have one very exciteable boxer pup. I can just see her trying to get up for a closer look at the fishies. She's very observant. :D
 
I have small kids, too, and when I put a 29 gallon tank on a wrought iron stand in their bedroom, I decided to anchor it, too. I doesn't take much lateral force to topple a tank on a stand; they are pretty top-heavy.

I bought some of that galvanized strapping material (looks like an inch-wide piece of metal with regularly-space holes down the middle) and make two loops. I rapped a loop around each leg of the stand, near the top, and (making sure the loops were snug) attached screws to the wall behind. (Actually, it's screwed into a window sill, but the idea is the same.) It really stabilizes the tank nicely.

I still spent quite a bit of time educating the kids not to pull on the stand or the tank, but the straps make me feel a lot more comfortable.

HTH,
Jim
 
If you decide to put boxes around the stand to block the tank make sure they are tall enough that your daughter can't climb onto them, probably shoulder height or taller. Both my kids were climbers before they could walk, if they could get their chest flat onto it they could climb up onto it. Just imagine my surprise at coming around the corner and finding my little gril almost as high as the top of the entertainment center. :eek: She climbed up moving boxes - she couldn't walk yet.
 
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